»Time Tolled EP« by Gschmidt

Some of the releasers on Monotonik are more mysterious than others. But we quite enjoy it when the more shadowy ones turn up, slip us a gorgeous piece of music, and then slink away into the ether again. All we know about Gschmidt is that he might be named after a mathematic process, his previous »Nibiru Coming« release precis-ed rogue planet paranoia excellently, and this new ‘Time Tolled EP’ is a wonderful journey through some kind of wilfully odd, strangely beautiful soundscape. But if we get the musical goods, then zero disclosure is good by us.

Thus, this time, ‘Rise’ blossoms beautifully into a languid, almost indescribable melange of live and synthesized instruments, before ‘Shine’ bridges the gap into the alien vocals and Teutonic authority of ‘Holiday’. From there on out, the title track is an informed drift through the further reaches of the space time continuum, before ‘Remember December’ rises into almost transcendent Mercury Rev territory, vocals and brass and crazily beautiful codas in full effect.